Government departments have been told they may have to reduce their expected spending this year by between 0.1% and 1.4% as a direct result of increased financial demands on the Department of Education, according to the Minister for Public Expenditure.
Jack Chambers confirmed the move as he separately said he wants to introduce enhanced oversight of spending in other departments before the upcoming autumn budget.
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week, Minister Chambers confirmed a report in today's Sunday Times that he has written to all government departments telling them they will have to reverse or cancel some spending earmarked for next year.
He confirmed this is as a result of overspending in the Department of Education in the region of €600 - 700 million, which has been widely linked to increased demands on special education places and the wider sector.
'New priorities emerge'
Minister Chambers said the Department of Education's overspend this year means other departments will have to be "levied" to stay within 2026 limits and to ensure funding for plans next year remains available.
He defended the plan from suggestions other ministers and departments are having to pay for overspend among their counterparts.
He said that "as a Government we set an overall allocation" and that sometimes "new priorities emerge".
Minister Chambers said he wants to protect the Department of Health and Department of Social Protection, and that as a result the cuts will not be equal across all departments.
However, he confirmed while the Department of Social Protection is likely to face a 0.1% levy on its spending, other unnamed departments could face cuts to planned spending of up to 1.4%.
He rejected suggestions the situation is in part due to the budget plans both he and former minister for finance Paschal Donohoe agreed last autumn or that the levies will cause division within the coalition.
"We’ve collective agreement on this, Government decided to do this the last number of weeks," he said.
Mr Chambers separately said he is "developing a new escalation framework to enhance fiscal discipline and controls" in order to address any further "emerging risk" in departments that "could put at risk sanctioned spend".
Asked what this means in practical terms, he said it could result in "withdrawal or sanction of additional expansion of expenditure" and that this situation "could affect spend" in various departments.
"The consequence of not doing that is a level of expenditure that not sustainable in the long-term," he added.
